TABLE OF CONTENTS . . . [T]he wild animal population does not display its normal behavior except in the presence of its normal environment.
Aldo Leopold
I begin this essay with an open confession of my intent to exploit the ambiguity of the term sustainable innovation in my title. Indeed, there is an intentional double entendre at work here, one that I feel I should acknowledge and explain before I proceed. On the one hand, there can be sustainable innovation in the sense that the output or business of a firm is sustainable. On the other hand, there can be sustainable innovation in the sense that the innovation process employed by a firm is sustainable.
To illustrate my point using an exaggerated example, consider a firm that has devoted all of its human resources to innovating new products or services with, say, environmental ethics in mind. Although the outcomes of innovation in such a firm might be laudable, its innovation routine, per se, would hardly be sustainable. Despite the merits of its enterprise, with everyone engaged in product and service development, there d be no one left to tend to the work of the firm, such as making products, filling orders, or dealing with customers. Clearly, there is a difference between the notion of sustainable innovation in the enterprise or work product sense of the term, versus innovation...
